California 3-way

[SEO]

Are you going to install an NEC complient installation or repair the old system?

 

[LarryFine]

These are electricall the same, minus the 4-ways, which could be added to the lower circuit.

 

[guschash]

Just repair what they have for now. They just move in, maybe down the road. We been changing old light fixtures. The main panel in the house has been upgraded but nothing else.

 

[George Stolz]

I think this is what you are referring to.

To me, that's a Travelling Bus.

The California would have a cable for travellers (connected to travellers in each location) and a cable for power. In "my Cali" configuration, you couldn't have a light come on at both ends at the same time.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

To me, that's a Travelling Bus.

The California would have a cable for travellers (connected to travellers in each location) and a cable for power. In "my Cali" configuration, you couldn't have a light come on at both ends at the same time.

The diagram I posted is a travelling bus. I was responding to your post about the travelling bus 3 way.

 

[al hildenbrand]

The California would have a cable for travelers (connected to travelers in each location) and a cable for power. In "my Cali" configuration, you couldn't have a light come on at both ends at the same time.

If I'm envisioning what you are describing, then that's what I'd consider as a standard 3-way hookup. That is, the supply hot goes to the first 3-way common and the switched leg is taken off the end 3-way common. The travelers are simply that, travelers. The two traveler conductors don't do any double duty.

The novelty of having the travelers sequestered to a two-wire cable, and, if desired, running through one or more 4-ways, is, to me, just another physical configuration choice of the standard 3-way.

Feed at one end, switch leg at the other (this is what I think you're describing).
Feed and switch leg at the same 3-way.
Feed at the light, switch loop to first 3-way.
Feed at the light, travelers passing through the light j-box.
Etc.

What sets the "California" or Traveling Bus apart is that one traveler does double duty as a continuous hot so there is a hot at both ends, AND the other traveler is the switched leg which can be easily exploited at any place along its length, most commonly at either end in the 3-way j-boxes.

In your version, George, the 2-wire cable with the hot and neutral, after it leaves the first 3-way, doesn't have to go to the second 3-way, just the light, and then only for the neutral. The second 3-way common conductor could be a single conductor sent off through space to the light.

In my mind, there are three major types:

The standard 3-way (see my list above)
The Travelling Bus (California)
The Carter (or Chicago) which is the lampholder polarity changer.

And, for the sake of completeness, I'd throw in some late 1800s "master controlled" setups, and the tunnel progressive switching setup.